Lunasol Sheer Contrast Eyes in Lavender Coral

Sorry for the non-uniform backgrounds. I gave up trying to take perfect pictures for these (summer is about to be over and this palette won't look as nice with my murky, jewel-toned fall/winter clothes).

 

If you are familiar with A Touch of Blusher (the first blog I ever started reading), you will know her love for lilac eyeshadow palettes. Lunasol Sheer Contrast Eyes in Lavender Coral is among her perennial favorites and something that has made me a little curious(a little because I usually am not interested in things that I can't afford/justify buying). 

After my very first palette purchase from the brand, I decided to cave in and get Lavender Coral just to see what the hype was all about (at the height of its popularity, Lunasol was very much like how Suqqu is now). It also helped that it was pretty reasonably priced at around 4000 yen at Rakuten (seller is cosmerafio), which is practically the same price as a Nars duo.

My first impression of Lavender is how beautifully sparkly it is, it's like a disco ball when the light hits. Every pan has incredible depth and the shimmer peak through from various distances.  The shade break down from top left going clockwise

Lid: Medium (both in tone and intensity) lilac that pulls slightly pinker on me. The shimmers (if you look at it really hard) are ultra fine and in pink, lilac and gold. I love to wear this allover the lid (completed with defining mascara) for a fresh summery look and wish they sell it as a single.

Lid/highlight- Petal Pink with with soft gold, white and pink shimmer. It works well by itself as a lid or highlight at the inner corners but I think it's makes the look too pink when used with the lilac lid shade. 

Liner- A defacto matte eggplant. Yes there is indeed loads of burgundy, purple and gold glitter bits going on but the shades itself has a drier matte finish that's meant for lining/adding depth to other shades instead of applied liberally or spread onto a larger area.

Highlighter/top wash - A significantly chunkier glittery yellow-gold without much of actual color once blended. It looks wonderfully innocent (in a preteen idol/Hashimoto Kanna sort of way) when used under eyes. Note to self: Are you a bit too old to wear your makeup like a teen idol, eh?

Lunasol Lavender Coral under natural (but not direct) sunlight - A more tonally realistic / correct swatch as how it show up on me, although the colors look pastel and a little uninspiring.  If you are heavy handed (apply a thick load of color and like to add the deep shade in the crease etc) this would be what you get: a meh pastel.

A note on those "complex shimmer" for people who are not familair with Japanese eyeshafow. While many of these are complex and multicolor, they are not supposed to look like a galaxy on your eyes. Instead, the various sizes and types of glitter would reflect light like the surface of water and creates subtle depth as if it's somewhere deeper down. This is a feature I appreciate a lot as a flat-faced Asian and it means that beside the liner shade (which I pack along the lash line),  I always prefer to wear these palettes sheerly.

With direct sunlight and arbitrary blur. On my eyes it's further diffused. You might be able to see my first minor gripe about the colors: While it's well cordinated (I have no problem wearing all shades as once)it pulls too mauve pink for my liking. 

Enough with colors and finish, now to the texture:  Since the Sheer Contrast eyes was released spring of 2008, I have somewhat prepared myself for the difference in formulation(through reading numerous reviews on weibo) when I first used it on my eyes, it still shocked me a bit. Because...Holy Mother of Flyout.

When I used a brush, the powder got everywhere: my nose, cheeks (who would have guessed lilac looks great on freckles), eye brows, on the mirror, back to the palette... You know how several high-end palettes come with dust bag? This should come with its own vacuum.

 The dustiness can be minimized by using the sponge applicator (which inevitably eats up too much shadow/ becomes wasteful) or fingertips (but that can make the color too boldly/not delicate enough). At the end, I decided to just let it snow and clean up my face/apply sunscreen afterward. Anyway, this is the only Flyout Heaven I ever need to deal with and the palettes released later by Lunasol have much better texture.

I was digging my purple stash and here are the no-dupes: L'Oreal Smoldering Plum, Suqqu Benikakesora (liner), Prestige Addiction, L'Oreal Infallible Crayon Always Purple, L'Oreal With a Twist, GOSH Violet, L'Oreal Liquid Diamond and the two purples from Lavender Coral.

A simple eyeball of the day. I cheated (added L'Oreal With a Twist) because it wouldn't show in the picture/on my hooded lid). At least you can see the glitters on my eyebrow.

Overall: Lavender Coral is a beautifully refreshing palette for the summertime. I love the effect and have been wearing it many times. I wouldn't recommend it because (aside from fallout) I am not sure if I am loving this or just any sheer lilac palettes from Japanese brand. I guess I will have to do more "research", don't I?